DC Velocity - October 2019

T ra ns p ort a t io n R ep or t

Baptist Health South Florida wanted to improve manual processes in their central distribution center, but they didn’t want to replace their inventory system with a new WMS. Instead, they installed the Lucas Mobile Work Execution system.

Lucas slashed travel in the piece-picking area (LUM) of the DC, leading to a 100% improvement in picking rates. Managers now have better visibility into operations, and employees have easy to use voice-directed picking, put away, replenishment, cross-dock, and cycle counting processes. DC efficiency has increased, inventory and shipping accuracy has improved, and hospital deliveries arrive earlier.

Read The Case Study

Read more about Baptist Health and other Lucas work execution success stories at www.lucasware.com/customer-successes.

Hospital DC Doubled

Productivity Without A New WMS

@Lucas_Systems Lucas Systems www.lucasware.com 724-940-7000

30 DC VELOCITY OCTOBER 2019 www.dcvelocity.com A FOCUS ON SERVICE

Yet at the end of the day, service
reigns. Says Hub Group’s Yeager:
“Our first and foremost criterion is
always what is the customer’s deliv-
ery expectation. The first [decision
point] is service; second is econom-
ics. If intermodal is a day or two
longer and the appointment time
won’t tolerate that, [you] go truck,”
he explains. Where all things are
equal from a service-need perspec-
tive, “we choose intermodal because
it is more economical.”
Steve Keppler, senior vice presi-
dent of member services for IANA,
notes that today’s intermodal shippers
are more demanding and sophisticated,
balancing needs for capacity, service, cost
control, and environmental stewardship.
“Intermodal is a mature and cost-effective
option [that is] more environmentally
friendly and [has] a reduced carbon foot-
print,” he notes. In addition, a truckload
trailer-on-flatcar or 53-foot container
moving on the rail is one less truck on the
highway—reducing congestion and road
wear and tear. “Intermodal is an import-
ant part of the solution set,” he says.

Keppler notes as well that the industry needs to accelerate adoption of new technologies if carriers are to meet shipper demands for visibility, transparency, better planning, and faster, more efficient operations. Mike Albert, chief executive officer of technology provider DrayNow, agrees, citing the drayage industry, which still operates largely using phone, email, and fax, as in particularly acute need of a major technology makeover.

Albert describes DrayNow, launched in 2017, as “a real-time marketplace that connects customers [mainly the IMCs] with capacity [drivers operating trucks].” It’s a highly fragmented market, with the typical dray carrier operating five or fewer trucks.

Operating in major intermodal markets of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Dallas, Memphis (Tennessee), Chicago, New York, and Atlanta, DrayNow drivers are equipped with a smartphone-based app they use to monitor loads posted in their area of service. On the app, the driver can examine load characteristics and easily accept a load with the click of a button. To address the tracking/visibility challenge, the app on the driver’s phone constantly pings its location, which is fed in real time into a central portal and is continually updated.

“Technology has never been holistically based on [creating a solution to] digitizing the entire intermodal move,” Albert says. “Players who really differentiate themselves with technology; bring intelligent, effective automation to replace the archaic, manual processes we use today; and provide complete door-to-door or ramp-to-ramp accurate, timely visibility will win.”